Five On Friday ~ Eva Cassidy

I can never get enough of this voice.
She left us too young, too soon, and never received the recognition she so richly deserved. I think my favorite performance is this acoustic live version of her signature arrangement of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It was filmed at Blues Alley with a camcorder as were most of the following.

Birth name Eva Marie Cassidy
Born February 2, 1963 Washington, DC
Died November 2, 1996 (aged 33) Bowie, Maryland

Wiki credit: After having a potential contract with Apollo Records collapse when the label went bankrupt, Biondo and Dale decided that she should release her own live album. In January 1996, the material for Live at Blues Alley was recorded over a two-day period at Blues Alley, Washington, D.C. Due to a technical glitch on the first night of recording, only the second night's recording was usable. Unhappy with the way she sounded due to a cold, she was reluctant to release the album. She eventually relented, on the condition that the studio track "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread", Cassidy's favorite song, would be included in the release, and that they start working on a follow-up studio album. Her apprehension appeared unfounded as local reviewers and the public responded positively. In one of the first published news articles on Eva Cassidy, The Washington Post commented that "she could sing anything — folk, blues, pop, jazz, R&B, gospel — and make it sound like it was the only music that mattered." The subsequent studio album she worked on was released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997. In the liner notes of Eva by Heart, critic Joel E. Siegel described Cassidy as "one of the greatest voices of her generation."

2. Autumn Leaves Sultry. Pure. Innocent vocals. There's a difference when a singer can pull off all three in the same song and they are intertwined perfectly.

3. Fields of Gold. Chills. Every.Time. I featured it in this post "Serenading the Moon and Clouds" after my Baby Boy lost someone very important in his life.

"In his arms she fell as her hair came down".....pure magic.

4. Songbird ~ "For you, they'll be no crying. For you, the sun will be shining. For I feel that when I'm with you, it's alright. I know it's right. And the songbirds get singing...and I love you I love you I love you like never before."

Wiki credit: After Cassidy's death, local folk singer Grace Griffith introduced the Blues Alley recording to Bill Straw from her label, Blix Street Records. Straw approached the Cassidy family to put together a new album. In 1998, a compilation of tracks from Cassidy's three released recordings was assembled into the CD Songbird. This CD lingered in relative obscurity for two years until being given airplay by Terry Wogan on his wide-reaching BBC Radio 2 show Wake Up to Wogan, following recommendation by his producer Paul Walters. The album sold more than 100,000 copies in the following months. The New York Times spoke of her "silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing that at times was heart-stoppingly eloquent."

 
 Got 5 tunes you'd like to share? Play along! Thanks Travis for a great Friday meme. 1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here. 2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing. 2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets. 3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set. 4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

At Least We Wore Cool Sunglasses

I had lunch with Ferd and his lovely wife, Gail, last week at Bravo! We had a blast.
Here's how it went down.

"Ferd, do they know we're bloggers and that we take pictures?"
"Yes ma'am."

"OK. Smile. Cause we're bloggers. We take pictures."
Yes ma'am.

"We're bloggers! We take pictures."

"Yes, ma'am."
"We're bloggers. We take pictures!"
"Yes ma'am."
"We're bloggers. We take pictures."
"Yes, ma'am."

"We're bloggers.
Will you take our picture?"
"Yes, ma'am."

See? I warned them we were bloggers.

OOOHHMMM

The Song Lyrics Meme ~ I Kid You Nut

Welcome to The Queen's Meme #46.
The subject is music.

*sorry this meme is a tad late. I was quite literally under a tree. Details on my blog later*

I had lunch last week with bloggers Ferd and Gail. It was lovely! (details forthcoming) He described a game his kids played recently while they were visiting in which a word was given and the players had to come up with a song title using that word and then sing the song. I said, "What a great idea for Monday's Queen's Meme!" sans the singing (unless you want to make a video and that would be extra bonus points with the Queen!!!) ...and possibly no dungeon for the rest of your blog life.
So Song Lyrics it is. Thanks to Ferd and his happy family.

I used a random word generator to find the words.
Your job is to find a song that uses this word either in the title or lyrics. Give us the title or part of the lyric that fits and the artist. Then say a little something about the tune and why you chose it. Posting a YouTube video of the song would be great! (but not required)
Here we go.

A website called "Who Does That Song?" might help.
Just type in the word and your choices are endless.

I decided to answer these with the most outrageous titles I could find. I'd never heard of any of these except the last one. What people will do... Prepare to get an education.

1. Want

"I Want You Dead" by Brooke Valentine
I would not listen to a song called "I Want You Dead" but to each his own. I have not read the lyrics but I am assuming she means she wants all the bad things in the world dead and gone. That's what I'll believe. Next.











2. hell
1997 ~ The Squirrel Nut Zippers ~ Yes. Really.
I kid you nut.
"In the afterlife
You could be headed for the serious strife
Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay"



3. smack
2006 ~ Akon Featuring Eminem "Smack That"

Smack what?
That's what I want to know. It's from the album Konvicted, so I ain't askin'. Next!
**Too late. I listened to a 30 second clip. Ooooohhhh....**


4. ugly
1963 ~ Burl Ives ~ "Ugly Bug Ball""Then our caterpillar saw a pretty queen
she was beautiful in yellow, black and green
he said, "Would you care to dance?"
their dancing led to romance.

and she sat upon his caterpillar knees
and he gave his caterpillar queen a squeeze
soon they'll honeymoon
build a big cocoon
thanks to the ugly bug ball"

Eureka!! I knew I picked the right song!

5. Beast

Beasts In Cages by The Monks! What day is complete without a Gregorian Chant?
It's my lucky day. Ahh....that's better. Something soothing. Calm. 1999. Written by Cassidy, Ford & Hudson.

And then I saw one of their album covers. Intriguing!
But quite possibly the wrong genre.
Whew. That music degree came in handy on this meme. I hope Baby Boy does not find this meme.
Wouldn't want him to get any bad habits.


6. Romeo

Thank goodness The Transformed Man (my hero) shows up. It's William Shatner with "Romeo and Juliet/How Insensitive" in 1968. Shakespeare and Shatner. Unbeatable.
"What light thru yonder window shakes....."
Isn't that how it goes? Pure depressing poetry.



7. God

Billie Holiday. 1941/1950 "God Bless The Child". Finally! A song with some sense. One of my favorites. Her real name was Elinore Harris and she was known as LadyDay, Queen of Song.

"Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own"

I'm going back to The Ugly Bug Ball. It made me laugh. I might find a sympathetic beetle or a lonely caterpillar just my speed. Wanna dance?

The Mountains Moved After Midnight

No.
It's not what you think O Bloggy People.

After months of dealing with an Internet service provider whose technical department ranks right up there with the likes of those who don't know their...never mind....*breathe, Mimi, breathe*

I am tired of seeing this.
I am tired of talking to the same people over and over again.
I am tired of phoning them more than I call my own mother.
I am tired of apologizing to said service people because my fuse got so much shorter than my skirt.
I am tired of getting a completely different story about why my connection is weak EVERY SINGLE TIME I call.
I'm done.

So today when for the 5,398th time they told me AFTER sending a technician physically out to Bloggingham, after installing a new antenna, after sending a new device, after creating three work tickets that NO ONE followed up on.....**breathe, Mimi, breathe**....it has been declared that my problem is "terrain" and "trees" and not their ability to serve everyone during peak hours - for which I am graciously paying a'plenty for.

"Your problem is terrain. And trees, ma'am."
"I see.....terrain. And trees."
"Yes ma'am."
"Uh...sir....I have a much faster connection after midnight."
"You do?"
"Yes. I can zip zip zip fly through my work."
"After midnight you say?"

"Yes. After midnight. I have more signal bars after midnight."

**tapping fingernails and glaring into the computer screen."

"What about early in the morning? What then, ma'am? Do you have a good connection then?"

"I wouldn't know that, sir."
"Why?"

"I'm asleep from staying up half the night doing my work because it's the only time I can stay connected."

"Oh. I apologize for that ma'am."

"Terrain....it's the terrain you say, O Brilliant Technological Wizard?"

"Yes ma'am. I hate to be the one to tell you this but we're not going to be able to provide you with adequate service because of the mountainous area you live in."

"I see."
'"That's amazing, sir. Just amazing."

"Why is that, ma'am?"

"I was never aware that mountains could move after midnight."

Monday Mimisms ~ The Cherokee Girl

I am slightly north of fifty.

Most days I like my place on the chronological globe. Some days I want to string it up from the highest rafter and kick the bucket of wrinkle remover off the highest cliff and call it a day.
Today was a bucket kicker of a day.

I took my 6-year-old grandson shopping through the neighborhood yard sale boutiques. He had a pocket full of money (mine), a skip jump and a heartbeat of joy (mine) and most everything else in his wiry little body that you can count on in this world that means a blessed thing. And he’s mine.
Wrapped around my sinew and bone like a web-spun intricate cobweb of blissful peace.
He is.
Blissful.
Peace.

My hands have a few wrinkles.
I know they weren’t there yesterday.
And my eyes look tired. Must be the heat, I tell myself.
No.
It’s because I’m midlife-never-mind.

And then I went home and got properly stuck on the age thing.
And why some days I look like hell
and some days I look like twelve
and how today I feel just like the Cherokee girl my grandmother was

I tried to wash my freckles away in the morning dew when I was 8 years old because she said they would disappear. Lo and behold, at 53, I am still trying to cover those blasted freckles and make my smile stop being crooked like hers and my nose wrinkling up oh.so.adolescent.like when I really really smile.

For years I fought it. I wanted it to shift into Hollywood styled sophisticated perfection. I wanted to pout like Garbo, sizzle like Marilyn, slink like Ginger. I did not want to effude giggles like a pigtailed Mary Ann. (I just pulled a Palin, did you catch it?) Oh, I do alright in the catwalk department on a good ole’ day you see…..but it’s days like today …..when the sun is long and my freckles come callin’ that I see…I see…..(“I brought my grandson today, ma’am. His name is Baby Boy”) a wisp of her staring cold in the mirror and laughing cause she still sees the marks behind whatever makeup I put on (“Grandson? He’s not your son?”)……knowing full well I can‘t wash them off with the dew (“No, no,” I laugh, “my own baby is 30.”…) even though that’s what my greatly superstitioned grandmother told me (“That’s about what I thought you were.”) while she watched me wash my face with dewdrops one morning at 5am in the backyard trying to scrub them away….(“Oh DO go on, ma’am…I will buy everything you have in your garage today…“)

Whoever heard of a movie star with freckles?

I can't have both.
Can I?

So I came home flailing all my will into a long dramatic selfish pout, casting winks and coy glances hither and yon for the birds and the squirrels and trees, splashing on makeup and dropping pearls round the long strands of auburn that also belonged to the glorified goddess of an Indian-laced grandmother and took this shot and that and that shot and this trying to see what the yard sale lady said she saw in the shadow of my grandson‘s smile this morning…...oh I was bound and determined to have a dandy of a roll in the whine fields if I couldn't coax that number down and have a long satisfying look in the yard sale lady's mirror...... I desperately needed those years to wash away you see and since it was not morning, but a sun-washed afternoon in my fifty-third year I felt time turning pages in the solstice of a day that I knew I was meant all along to land in with my grandmother laughing all wrinkled and joyful behind that willow tree looking at me flirt shamelessly with wildlife and memories......wondering how did I get here so fast in a spot where spots are signs of age and not of youth with no stopwatch to slow them down... down.... down....
Until finally I saw something in the lens I’d never seen before.
Something steadfast.
Something strong.
Something …..
Cherokee

a streak of stubborn
A chiseled chin
A bold lined woman
Who never takes no for an answer
and knows exactly where she's been

One random streak of grey
And freckles
Not in the dew
But in the new

And then
I had an epiphany

About perfection
And the lack of it
In me
And imperfections
And strength
in the middle of
imperfect things
that I no longer want to wash away

My grandmother's gift of stubbornness and grit might have been borne on the backs of those unsophisticated marks, but she knew what she was doing when she passed them on to me.
She knew I would need them
there's some kind of magic in dew

Five On Friday with Travis #1 ~ Even When The Rain Falls

I'm in a Gospel funk today. NeedToBreathe's "Washed By The Water" is just what I need to hear.

From Seneca, South Carolina, the Rinehart brothers never fail to stir my soul with their southern gospel rock. Here are the lyrics along with a stripped down acoustics version that I LOVE which really shows the heart and soul in Bear Rinehart's edgy voice. Turn it up. It is based on a true story of their father's very personal trial and how he dealt with injustice, gossip, and unfair public scrutiny. My favorite lyric is...."Those people have long since gone - my father never fell."

The band's song "More Time" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2007 film P.S. I Love You, and numerous Needtobreathe songs have been used on television coverage and for movies. ESPN used the song "Streets of Gold" from The Heat during the network's coverage of the 2007 Ford 400. The show The Hills used "We Could Run Away". Fox TV promoted its Monday night lineup for the shows Prison Break and K-Ville with the song "Nothing Left to Lose". Fox Sports used "Don't Wait for Daylight" during their coverage of the 2006 World Series. The song "Shine On" has seen the most uses, having been played on the MTV show Newport Harbor; Oprah's Big Give; the movie Employee of the Month; the movie To Save a Life; and in 2008, the song featured in the WWE Tribute to the Troops special. In August 2009, the song "These Hard Times" from the band's album The Outsiders was featured in promos for a new NBC show, Mercy. Their song "Nothing Left to Lose" was featured in trailers for the movie Extraordinary Measures released January 2010. In addition, their song "Something Beautiful" is featured in the soundtrack of the film When In Rome and on the 21st episode of the first season of Cougar Town.

Band members

* Bear Rinehart – lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ, harmonica * Bo Rinehart – lead guitar, banjo, synthesizer, backing vocals * Seth Bolt – bass, mandolin, backing vocals * Joe Stillwell – drums, backing vocals * Toby Friesen (touring member) – keyboards, guitar On March 26, 2009, David Leonard (formerly of Jackson Waters) was announced as the newest (touring) member of Needtobreathe. He joined their live touring band on keyboard and backing vocals. In the summer of 2010, David left life on the road and was succeeded by Toby Friesen (also formerly of Jackson Waters). **Credit: Wikipedia** Do you have 5 songs to share on Friday? Play along with us! Here's how: Travis made these rules!! 1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here. 2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing. 2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets. 3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set. 4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday. Go forth and enjoy music!

I Promise Never To Say The B Word Again

B B B B B........ut

OK. I promised.

Photography © Mimi Lenox

No Cussing or Food Fights

I found some interesting signs while I was at the place I can't stop talking about on vacation. This store was particularly cool because the upstairs window looked out on the ocean and a strategically placed stoplight.

Which one do you think I actually heeded?

Photography © Mimi Lenox